


The Lost Temple of Zor-El

by deletingpoint



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Fusion, F/F, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Indiana Jones or Lara Croft type of archeology, Jack and Lena are really good friends, Kara is a goddess, Mythical Beings & Creatures, POV Alternating, angry villagers with pitch forks, beware the rath of a goddess, implied Kara Zor-El/Morgana
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-31 07:49:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13970568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deletingpoint/pseuds/deletingpoint
Summary: Lena finds a lost temple. She does not expect to find the goddess it was built for.





	1. 3.57 am on a Tuesday

 

_**Perilous Lands, 909 A.D.** _

 

„ _Quiet, I’m done listening to you. She’s done listening to you,” the man shakes in front of Morgana, the high priestess, and takes a step back._

“ _Yes, of course, your highness,” he mutters, forgetting he was supposed to be silent. There’s a shift in the air and he shivers._

 

_The Goddess is here._

 

“ _Now, my love, it wouldn’t do any good to kill him,” the priestess lowers her voice, calming the powerful deity._

_She flies just above the ground, her eyes glowing fiery red, despise written all over her face. Otherwordly, beautiful, dangerous._

“ _Humans. You are not worth our time.” Her is voice cold despite of the warmth that radiates from her body. She tilts her head and turns to her priestess: “Do you need this one for something?”_

“ _He could turn to be useful, yes,” she rises from her throne, black dress slithering on the stone floor, fingers crawling to lift the his chin. Green eyes so light they seem white as the bones she wears as a necklace. Still beautiful as the witchcraft she can channel. The man can’t force himself to look away from them._

“ _Savages, all of them,” the Goddess remarks, hoovering behind her in a protective way._

“ _There was time you didn’t think that, my queen,” Morgana whispers without looking at her._

“ _There was time I didn’t know you,” the Goddess crosses her arms on her chest._

_The priestess looks up to her now and smirks. “I appreciate the sentiment, love. Still, you know I might’ve exaggerated a tiny bit back then. You do remember I’m human?” her voice turns soft and caressing._

_The Goddess turns her back and shuts her eyes for a brief moment, shoulders dense._

“ _I remember all too well,” her voice is hushed, barely there._

“ _Hey, that’s not what I meant, don’t go there,” Morgana takes a step, reaching out to her, desperate to catch her eyes._

_That’s the moment the man chooses to attack, taking advantage of both of them being distracted with each other. A small dagger appears in his hand and without hesitation he runs it through Morgana’s back. There is a brief second in which the Goddess doesn’t realize what’s happened and still hasn’t turned around, but a sigh that escapes from the priestess’s lips sets her into action. Morgana is still breathing, as she falls on the floor, fingers twitching to try to catch something. The Goddess kneels beside her, stroking her face with her hands, leaving kisses to her restless fingers, mumbling words that don’t make any sense. The last life force leaves Morgana and then there is silence. The Goddess is still shaking her, but nothing happens. For all her powers, healing is not one of them. Then comes the scream._

_The man, who had been lurking towards the exit, falls on the ground. The Goddess doesn’t even look at him, her eyes glowing in various colors, hands fisted, beating the stone floor with all her strenght, lungs just screaming and screaming. It doesn’t take long before the stones start to crack, the walls coming apart with it. The mountain shattering and leaving all but dust in its crater. A doom for the Goddess and her priestess._

 

*

**Present day**

 

Lena startles awake at her ringing phone. She squints her eyes, trying to see what time it is and 3.57 am does not mean well for the person on the other end of the line. She curses and accepts the call without looking who it is. “You better have a good excuse,” she says without really expecting one, people always seem to assume she’s available 24/7.

“Lena! Lena, we found it! Can you believe, after all these years, we found the location!” Jack’s hoarse and hyper voice carries through, not even trying to hide the excitement.

Lena’s heart skips a beat and she sits up, all of the sleepiness forgotten.

“You, you found it? Tell me it’s not a prank call at 4 am, Jack!” she can hear herself talk, thoughts already flying somewhere else.

“No! You know I wouldn’t… Listen, we’ve been so close the entire time, The Lost Temple of Zor-El, it’s right there, underneath the surface, bordering the ruins of the Cave of Nimueh and listen, Lena, it is cleared of all dangers of collapsing. It used to be a,”

“A closed off area, I know, that’s why we never got close enough to dig deeper and it’s such a small area that,”

“That we didn’t consider the temple even could be there. All the signs showed it should be at least five times bigger, but I’m sure this is it!”

“You have aerials?” Lena puts the phone on speaker and dresses hurriedly in her jeans and uni sweatshirt.

“Just sending them to you, with the exact coordinates. It was a local stratigraphy group, some of their finds crossed with our preliminary ones and the reference sent our alarm blaring,”

Lena opens her laptop, “and you’re saying we’re allowed to go there now?”

“Yes!”

 

The excitement they both feel bubbles through the speech, interrupting each other and talking over. It’s been close to seven years since they started to look for the temple, actually believing it was real. They had always been fascinated by the mythological lost worlds like Avalon and Krypton and Atlantis, that’s what brought them together as friends when they were just kids trying to survive their families. But they never thought it could be real, not until that find seven years ago.

A woven carpet of supposedly a goddess and a priestess, the colors faded, except for the red S symbolizing the deity and the green of priestess’s eyes. It wasn’t a rare picture, there had been similar findings. Usually the goddess was pictured with horns on her head, sometimes with a bolt of lightning, but on this one she had wings instead. Not the only winged picture of Zor-El, there were two others. The wings here were made out of words though.

It wasn’t clear since the strands of the carpet were not entirely undamaged, but on the further examination Lena was able to determine the shapes as symbols or runes and words. Words that no one was able to translate or even understand what language they were in. Perhaps Zor-El had been real and had come from a place hidden from the outside world? After all, the area had once been called Perilous Lands suggesting people didn’t dare to set their foot there. It still belonged more to a fantasy book than acceptable science theories (even the popular science magazines refused to publish the idea), but it gave new energy for both Jack and Lena to truly devote to finding the lost temple and perhaps find the true origins of this particular deity from there.

And now, there is a chance to find some of the answers!

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> perilous lands are... perilous
> 
> let me know what you think! (comments and kudos feed my drive to write :))


	2. The Arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, i'm back!

_900 A.D._

 

_There’s a loud crack roaring throw the night air, making Morgana steady herself against the stone fountain. Pebbles of sand slip through the rocky ceiling, almost as if the Earth herself had been trembling. There’s light coming from outside and then it all settles into calm once more._

“ _Morgana? Morgana, you in here?” Rowena’s voice echoes from the opening._

“ _Yes, what just happened?”  
“Did ya see that?” Morgana throws her a look, as if she’d been able to see anything being cooped up down here. “Looked like lightning, but I ain’t a witch if that was something natural. Seemed nearby, Triden village most likely. As if something fell from the skies, only I saw no shooting star, more like the whole mountain shattering.”_

“ _That’s Fisher King’s territory,” Morgana whispers as she steps closer to her friend._

“ _Used to be, dearie, used to be. Hasn’t been around much nowadays, now has he?”Rowena links their hands from the elbows and drags Morgana outside._

“ _I can’t see a thing,” it’s too dark to understand what might be happening a long distance away._

“ _Use your magic, remember?”_

_Conjuring the light into her eyes isn’t difficult. “There’s people, they’re gathering around the mountains,” doesn’t seem like the smartest move, but that’s always been the trouble with humans._

“ _Told ya, didn’t I?”_

“ _It’s still hard to see any details,” Morgana mumbles, concentrating on what’s going on. She can’t use any spells without knowing what it is she’s supposed to see, but something, some pull out of this world makes her curious. “You think we could get closer without being noticed?”_

“ _No doubt in my mind. You sensing what I’m sensing, the power so fierce it could light up this whole land?”_

“ _Perilous Lands are already dried out, with Fisher King gone Krypton with all it’s sources remains hidden,” Morgana pulls on a black hood and checks if she still has her knife on her._

 

“ _A miracle!” “A God, that’s what it is. Came from the skies to save our land!” “If that thing is a God I am a rotten apple!” “Well, have ya seen yaself in the mirror lately?” “People, people, make way, passing through!”_

_They slide among the mass of villagers, holding their ears and eyes open._

“ _But there were markings on the stone, the olden markings from when the king was still with us.”_

“ _Whaat? You believin’ in fairytales now? Next you’re gonna tell me Krypton is real.”_

“ _Well, all the stories and arts don’t come from nothing, Sebius!”_

_The talk around them seems neverending until a figure emerges, floating just above the ground. Her clothes almost burnt, probably from the crash, the smell of melted hair surrounding her. Her eyes full of fear, but the stance still powerful and proud._

“ _Hi?” she waves with her left hand, tiny jolts of light flying from her palm, digging into the ground. Some seem awed, some frightened, some ready to attack. Morgana catches the eyes of the newcomer. They seem warm, like the sun. If you look too long into the sun it’ll burn you to a pile of ash._

“ _I’ve seen enough,” she turns away from the crowd, baffled Rowena torn between following or staying._

 

*****

 

Lena’s following the markings with her hand. It looks similar to the S she’s seen before, but it’s mirrored and obviously huge.

“Lena, come on, we’re losing daylight!”

“Coming! Is Sam here yet?” she yells back to Jack as she grabs the bag around her neck. No answer follows, she frees her hands and carefully lowers herself down from the stonewall she’d been so intrigued about. She came out at the crack of dawn as she glides on the ground the sun seems to be somewhere high above. She adjusts her hat and settles the bag back on her shoulder.

“Miss Luthor, I’m sorry it took me so long, there was this conference in Prague about Kamas I simply had to attend and,”

“Please, call me Lena, we’ve talked over the phone last few weeks so many times it’s like we’re old friends,” she wipes her hand from the stonecrust and sweat and reaches it for Sam to shake. She looks younger than Lena thought she would, being a mother to a teenager and a known expert on died out languages.

“Oh, right,” she smiles and gives a firm handshake, “I hope you didn’t have to wait for me to get started?”

“No, that would have been they had to wait for,” James steps up and nods to Sam, “today’s the big day though.”

“James is our landscape expert, and the guy to guide us through the danger zone. James, this is Samantha Arias, she’ll be joining us to the caves.”

“Yes, Jess told me about it.”

“Jess is the person who knows everything and she’s a great survivalist. You should get the equipment from her, oh, before that, would you look at that S marking for a moment,” she gestures to the stone wall, “it’s not part of the temple as far as we know and there’s something… it seems to be a mirror, you might have an idea on the significance of mirrored symbols?”

“I’m not certain. They can represent the opposites or sometimes locks, secret passageways, the meaning as it was perceived perhaps? Mirrors show reflections so it could represent a different point of view. Hard to tell without knowing the full picture.”

“Well, that’s what I thought and that’s why you’re here, to show us the full picture once we’ve gone through the entire area. Where did Jack disappear to? He was just here?” she looks around for answers.

“He’s at the supposed entrance, said he’s taking some examples from the tree. Again,” James sighs and shakes his head. Lena can’t help but smile. Jack has been fascinated by the peculiar tree since they arrived here.

“Come on, I’ll show you to Jess and we can get you ready,” she gestures Sam to go with her and waves to James, “when Jack’s finished will you tell him to find me? I know we already went over the map, but I need to make some details clear with him as well.”

“Sure. Just bare in mind it’s nothing conclusive and we’re lucky to even have some sort of idea what’s waiting for us down there.”

“James, you worry too much. Did I tell you about the time we got trapped in a stone maze once? Fun times, we’ll get through anything, promise.”

“Right,” James does not look convinced, if not even more worried.

“Really, we’ll turn around if it’s too dangerous, as simple as that,” she adds as sincerely as she can and that seems to calm him down a little. “All right?” she pats him on the shoulder as she turns and walks towards their little camp.

“You got trapped in a stone maze?” Sam whispers once they’re out of James’s hearing distance. Lena shrugs. It’s not as if it was the most danger they’d ever been. There was that time in Caucasus when she was certain they’d die and no one would ever find their bodies. She’s still hesitant to go back there. “Yes, it was just behind this fun park back in Central city. We were nine and trespassing an excavation area. To be fair, we had solid evidence to think Queen Lois had been buried there. The boy in our class had found her ring. Little did we know it was stolen from a souvenir shop instead. As I said, fun times! Mother was unhappy though,” she still remembers her rage and the two months that followed in complete isolation from outer world. Of course, she had Jack had built their own line of communication for emergencies, so it wasn’t that bad. “We were trapped the whole night until workers came in the morning. Jess! Brought someone for you!” she shoves the door of the trailer open to find Jess building something.

“Oh, hi! You must be miss Arias? Come on in, I’ve got your equipment right here.”

“I’ll leave you to it. James says we’ll be going in two hours,” she nods and step back outside. It’s a beautiful weather, if not too hot. She’s tempted to go back to the symbol, but decides to find Jack instead. They still need to decide just how far they’re willing to go this time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I pictured Rowena Macleod from Supernatural as Rowena, but she won't be a major character so do with that what you will ...
> 
> it's been great hearing from you, so please don't stop! let me know your thoughts, lovelies!:)  
> (you can come and say hi on tumblr too, if you want to, the name's the same as here)


	3. The Ruins

 

_**Triden Village, 901 AD** _

 

“ _The Goddess is angry,” the tavern is full of people and it’s not hard for Morgana to remain unnoticed as she listens in to the village elder and his right-hand-man._

“ _She’s been great to us so far, helped with the building and the weather’s been better for crops this whole year. She saved my little girl from the waters!”_

“ _Yes. And now she demolished two houses, we’re lucky no one got hurt! And I’m not saying we should throw her out, how do you even do that to one of the gods, but I think we should pacify her somehow. She’s angry and we haven’t really given her anything.”_

“ _She doesn’t want anything! She rarely even speaks to anyone, she still lives in the mountain she landed on. The only times she’s out here is when she’s helping someone.”_

“ _And yesterday showed it’s not enough. She’s a goddess, Hellivan, it’s been a whole year, I’m telling you, she thirsts for a sacrifice!”_

_Morgana’s heard enough at that and slips out of the door the same way she came in, unnoticed. The Goddess as they call her, the kryptonian as Morgana’s started to suspect, has stayed away from the village, sometimes she’s noticed her flying around, even catching her eyes from time to time. The sadness and a splash of curiosity too vibrant for Morgana, so every time she’s turned away, hidden back into the shadows she belongs in. No one knows what the Goddess eats or drinks, no one knows if her powers are magic or something more divine, not really. The only thing Morgana can be certain of is that her power is remarkable and Morgana’s magic desires to be around it. So that means she needs to stay as far from her as possible._

“ _Oh, dearie! You’re not thinking of_ her _again, are ya?” Rowena appears from the backyard, her red locks impeccable even in the humid air. She wastes her magic on such trivial things… Morgana pulls on the hood to hide her messy hair._

“ _Whatever are you talking about?” she takes a step towards towards their dwelling._

“ _Am I not your bestest friend? The God you can’t seem to take your eyes off from. Tell me, has she taken a look back on ya yet?”_

_Morgana shuts her down with a look._

“ _Oh, you’re no fun.”_

_They walk in silence until she can’t help sharing. “They think she needs a sacrifice.”_

“ _Whatever for? If anyone needs a sacrifice it’s us. For being so patient with their looks of distaste. And yet they come crawling if they’re in need of healing.”_

“ _She destroyed two houses,” Morgana falls into thought. It must’ve been an accident. Her power is good, her eyes clear, there is no way she would’ve done it out of anger. Perhaps smashing some rocks, but not houses._

“ _I’m tellin’ you, you should go and call for her, this whole year you’ve been maddening in this obsession with her. If ya really need to know why she did that you should ask her yourself.”_

“ _I’m not being maddening. You’re confusing me with Nimueh and her obsession with Emrys. Again.”_

“ _Well, you are a priestess as was she. You have an obsession as did she. You live in the same cave….” Rowena tutters away, fishing for a response._

“ _There’s just something,” Morgana bites her lip, “her presence effects my magic, that’s all. You know it does the same for you.”_

“ _It really doesn’t. I wish it did. The power would be enough to rival Fisherking’s,” Rowena gets a misty-eyed longing look in her eyes. Despite them being friends for two years now, there’s not much Morgana knows about her._

“ _Rowena, sorry, I’ll catch up later, there’s something I need to do,” she interrupts her._

“ _Oh, love, you do what you gotta do. But when did ya lose your fighting spirit?” she adds thoughtfully._

_When I lost my sister. She doesn’t say it, but walks towards the village boarder in silence. She just needs to see how it looks like. What the damage is. There’s some looks thrown her way, but she just hides under the hood and keeps going. People haven’t feared her for years, since Morgause died and she doubts they even remember that fear. She still does, but it feels distant and foggy, as if the sister she once had hadn’t even been real. And how sad is that._

_She gets to the demolished houses. There’s almost nothing left. How could this have been an accident? There’s no one around, the clean up organised for tomorrow. So, before she could change her mind, she steps in to the ruins. It’s cold. There’s a cracked up chimney still standing, a bed with no walls around and papers, papers fill all the floors. A rustling comes from the back corner. She knows before she reaches there, knows from the power surge in her magic, knows from the way her heart speeds up._

_The Goddess, the girl, is curled up in a corner, or what would’ve been a corner just a few days ago. She almost leaves. Who is she to disturb her? She doesn’t want to be near her, no matter what Rowena says, it’s not wise, it just isn’t._

_She all but runs to her, kneeling in front of the girl, who flinches away from her touch. So Morgana pulls her hands back, settling them on her own lap. She takes a breath, but doesn’t know what to say. So she doesn’t say anything. The girl rises her head, looking more at Morgana’s hands than eyes. “Don’t touch me,” the whisper is barely audible, Morgana swallows and nods at that._

“ _I’m not, see?” her own voice is a mere hush as well, the girl flicks a quick look at her face then, her eyes looking as if she’s been crying for hours and Morgana needs to hold onto her hands as to not grab her and pull her in a hug._

“ _I know you. Green. Like cats,” comes through the lips and the woman, the girl, the goddess, wraps her arms more closely around her._

“ _I, sorry?” she asks and is gifted with another look, this time their eyes locking. The sadness so bare in her eyes. It’s not like Morgana’s never seen sadness before, she has too many times. But it’s so bare, nothing hidden in those eyes that she can feel her own eyes prickle._

“ _Your eyes, they’re green like cats’. I like cats,” the voice is hoarse, but there’s a shadow of a tiny smile on her face._

“ _Who doesn’t like cats?” she asks playfully. The little laughter she hears then melts away any fear and doubt she had before coming here. The girl’s shoulders relax and she looks at Morgana without hiding._

“ _What’s your name?” it comes out before she can stop herself, “sorry, you don’t have to...” she trails off._

_But the girl’s eyes sparkle at that and is that a blush? She chews on her lip before saying: “No one’s ever asked me that. It’s Kara. Kara Zor-El.”_

_Morgana smiles, not even registering the confirmation of Krypton. “Thank you, Kara. I’m called Morgana,” she offers her hand and to her surprise Kara reaches out, still withdrawing her hand the last second._

“ _It sounds beautiful, Morgana. Please don’t touch me though,” she adds quickly, pleading._

“ _I won’t. Not unless you want me to.”_

“ _You have magic,” Kara says after a beat._

“ _And you’re from Krypton,” she counters, perhaps hoping to hear that laughter again._

_Instead Kara’s look dims again. “I can never go back home,” and Morgana has to fight the urge to touch her once again._

_Kara’s eyes are unfocused for a moment until she shakes her head and gathers herself from the ground. Morgana rises with her._

“ _I should go, I shouldn’t be here, they won’t like it, I, thank you, Morgana. I’m, I’m so sorry,” she mumbles, hiding her eyes again and Morgana knows she’s talking about the ruins, but decides to not mention it. And to think it was the reason she came here in the first place._

“ _Where...I wouldn’t want to intrude, but where do you live, Kara?” she asks instead._

“ _Oh. I don’t even know. I don’t think it’s far from yours though,” she smiles a little and floats in to the air. Most likely not even realizing it’s something odd. It’s probably quite normal to her._

“ _My place?” her voice rises._

“ _Oh. Yes, I noticed you. I, I should really go,” Kara shies away, waves awkwardly and disappears to the skies._

_Close by? Morgana shakes her head._

 

**Present day**

 

“Watch your steps! The passage is moving downward form here on, do not forget to wear your gloves!” James shouts from ahead. The tunnels are getting deeper and the only source of light appears to be the headlamps Jess had made everyone wear. Lena drags her gloved hand over the solid soil wall, Jack just behind her, mumbling about maple trees and oak trees and how a hybrid should not exist in any kind of world. Lena still thinks his suspicions about the tree have no real basis, but it’s rare for Jack to be wrong about something. He tends to make mistakes only if he’s too excited, too close to solving the problem. Like that time with healer particles, that almost ended up killing him. They were seventeen, you’re bound to make at least some mistakes at seventeen.

 

The air gets colder as they move on, but it’s not hard to breathe, the passageway is big enough and soon they would get there, to the open space as far as she knows. She can feel her heart thumping, pounding behind her ribs. What if there is nothing left? What if the temple was never real? The walls get harder and stonier, markings carved into them. She stops and directs the light on something her fingers felt. A writing she can’t really make up.

“Sam!” she calls out just as Jack stumbles on her.

“Lena,what’s the hold up? Ooh, that’s interesting,” he eyes the wall and pats the writing. For a brief second the letters seem to simmer, but it’s probably the lights playing tricks.

Sam takes a few steps back to join them, James and Jess also stopping.

“Sam, you see this? It reminds me the S back outside,” Lena raises her eyebrow as Sam studies the lettering.

“Interesting,” she takes off her glove and ghosts the words with her bare fingers, “it reminds me of a manteion writing I saw once, but not the same. Something foretold, something the oracles must’ve seen. It has the star markings, see? But I can’t make up what the rest of it says. I’d guess it’s something about the temple’s close proximity.”

The letters are really surrounded by star marking, now that Sam has pointed it out she can see them clearly. Something else catches Lena’s attention though and she kneels on the floor to look closer.

“This is, it’s figures, right? Why is it drawn so low?”

“More like why is it in this place at all, wouldn’t the entrance or doorway be more logical?” comes Jack’s voice.

“The gloves!” Jess and James reprimand at the same time. Also the same moment Sam puts her bare hand on the drawing, though she pulls it back instantly. “Sorry, I’m used to feel the carvings when I don’t understand them right away.”

“We don’t know what you could touch over here, so best be careful,” James sighs as Jess pulls out the camera and flashes a few pictures.

“I don’t remember seeing those when I secured the path though,” James frowns, but turns back the direction they were going.

“You alright?” Lena asks Sam as they move on.

“Yeah, just wondering about the meaning.”

“Well, hopefully we’ll have more things to wonder about soon enough,” she pats her on the shoulder.

“One person at a time, there’s no room for more, but then we’ll be there!”

Jess is the first one to go through the narrow passage and once her voice comes through James gestures everyone else to follow, leaving himself the last.

 

And then they are there. In the entryway.

It seems as if they’re still underground, but the air is fresh and there’s sunlight coming through from somewhere. She can see the walls of the temple. Crackled, in ruins, as if a blast had torn them apart.

“It’s beautiful,” she can’t help the whisper escaping her lips nonetheless. There’s a click that awakes her from the amazement, Jess capturing her expression and moving on to Jack’s, taking a step back while doing so and then… she disappears.

 

Without a word she’s just not there anymore.

 

“Jess!?” she shouts, looking around, others noticing something is wrong.

“She was just there,” Lena walks where Jess had disappeared, but James stops her, throwing a pebble at the place instead. The air swallows it.

“Where does the light come from?” Jack whispers. “It can’t be the sun.”

“Okay, okay,” Lena forces herself calm. Sure, she hasn’t experienced anything like this before, but surely there’s an explanation. Perhaps there’s a secret room that’s only visible from a certain angle? And is soundproof? “We should go after her,” she voices. The fear has still not set in and it’s Jess. They can’t just leave her!

“No. I’m going after her,” James is pulling a rope around himself, “and you’re gonna pull us out of whatever it is, alright. This is not what I signed up for, but no need to worry, I want all three of you to hold on, alright,” he steps on the spot before any of them could argue, leaving barely seconds for them to grab onto the rope.

“Did he think he was too heavy to pull this shit? No he did not,” Jack presses through teeth as three pairs of hands are holding on.

“Use your legs, use your legs!” Sam is teaching, seemingly the strongest of all three of them.

There’s a pull on the other end and they try to move and pull themselves, but the rope just moves closer to the vanishing point.

“Hold on! Hold on!” she doesn’t know who shouts it and it doesn’t even matter. They are holding on, but instead of pulling they still get pulled. Then there’s a sudden surge of power, the rope yanks unexpectedly, they all fall forwards and then Lena is kneeling alone. The rope has slipped from her fingers. The people she was with slipped away with it.

 

Now the fear settles in. This is so much worse than Caucasus. People are lost, what if they stay lost? She doesn’t know when she started to tremble, but she does. The fear and the cold and she doesn’t have any helpful ideas. Should she follow? Should she go outside and get help? The light flickers. Turning from warm yellow to colder, much colder blue. She lifts her head and finally sees the source of the light. Inside the temple.

 

If that’s what’s responsible… anger adds to the fear and decisively she walks into the ruins.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry for taking so long, aaaah! i was so busy through april and then then then it just got hard to get back on track, but here it is, chapter 3! hope it's still good and at least it's longer than the previous ones ;)


	4. One Step Further

 

_**Cave of Nimueh, 902 AD** _

 

“ _Witch! Come on out, we know you’re in there,” the stones are creaking under the pressure, people trying to storm in. Morgana grabs the viles of potion and hexbags and throws them in a bag._

“ _Witch! Witch!” she shuts down the echoing. It’s nothing she hasn’t heard before. Still gets her hands shaking though, always has, and a bottle of spidervenom falls on the stone floor._

_She should’ve left the moment she heard rumors about people blaming her for the storm that not only ruined the crops but also the proper vegetable harvest. She’d gone unnoticed here for longer than anywhere else, but at the end of the day it was always the sorcery that was guilty of things gone wrong. It’s just that… she should’ve left, but she wanted to see Kara at least one more time, to say goodbye. But she’s never been good at goodbyes, so she didn’t. Kara had been more and more cut off from the village. She didn’t put too much effort in getting know the people, not after she’d hurt them. With the exception of Morgana of course. And maybe Morgana had known it wasn’t a good idea. Maybe she had known she’d mean only trouble for the fierce kryptonian._

_Bang! they’re ramming the door now. Kara seemed to need her so she had continued their friendship._

“ _We’re you’re in there, witch! You have hexed the land, made it barren.”_

“ _It’s always been barren!” she can’t help shouting back, “the only reason it worked before was the Fisher King, a sorcerer may I add,” she feels venom rising in her blood, how rich of them to accuse her. Really, she should strike them all dead. Ungrateful little parasites._

_She grabs the bag and shuffles to the secret passageway out of the cave. She’d gone to see Kara for the last time, but of course she was unable to tell her it would be the last time._

 

_She punches the door open with her boot and is greeted by a man pointing a dagger at her. She flips her wrist to disarm him, but it doesn’t work. She adds words to the movement, feeling the magic trying to pour out of her, but it doesn’t have direction and just fizzles in her veins. Something is blocking her powers._

“ _Not so powerful now, are you?” a smirk exposes two teeth and the man, she thinks his name might be Anvar, gestures her to walk out of the caves into the passageway leading to the mountains. There’s two more men accompanying him. With actual pitchforks. There’s only two things that could block her powers like this: the eye of stoneguard or another sorcerer._

_The point her back towards the crowd huddled around the cave’s opening. She throws a bottle of lizard slime and Avalon water at them. The greenish smoke covers the people and she runs, not looking back. It must’ve been Rowena, she always was thinking of herself first and if they threatened her… or else a new sorcerer is in the village. If she could only get far enough, her powers would kick back._

_She doesn’t get far enough. Being cornered between angry villagers and a trecherous cliff is not something she would have wished for, but it’s not surprising. This is how Morgouse had died after all._

“ _So, what? You plan to kill me and suddenly you’ll have enough food to last a lifetime?” she spits on the ground angrily._

“ _Nah, Hellivan here had a better idea. You’ll be the sacrifice to our hungry god, she will make it right,” the grin halfing the elder’s face is chilling. Kara? They think Kara would… what? Eat her? Consume her soul? Make her pregnant? She’d laugh, if only the situation wasn’t so dire. Her sweet Kara who was afraid to hurt people, who waved and smiled when she first arrived?_

“ _She’s gonna use your blood to fertilize the soil again.” Someone answers her unspoken questions._

 

_No. She can’t put Kara into that position. Kara would never hurt her. But she would never want to hurt anyone else either. She cares too much even if she only observes from further away. She’s a protector, that’s who she should always remain as._

_Morgana takes a step back. It’s not like she has anything else to live for. No one cares if she lives or dies. They’d rather she died. And if she can save Kara from having to make that decision… the next step doesn’t land on the ground and she lunges herself back, off the cliff, into the doom that awaits. She hears screams, but she’s already falling. Falling towards the ground, a scream escaping from her own lips. It’s not fair. None of it was never fair and she doesn’t want to die, but she was never allowed to really live. She closes her eyes hoping to see Kara’s before she dies._

_The rocky ground doesn’t come. She’s caught on strong arms and held against another body._

“ _I’ve got you,” Kara whispers into her hair as they fly back up._

_The stunned silence greets them._

_And then Kara yells: “AWAY!” it is so loud the ground shakes from the vibration. People run away, some caught by the soundwave, caught by Kara’s flaming eyes burning holes in their bodies. The screams are filled with terror._

“ _Kara!” Morgana looks at her friend. “Kara, leave them, please.”_

_Another roar escapes from the goddess and then she flies them to her mountain._

 

 

**Present day**

 

Lena curses the flashlight, curses everything that made them come here without proper equipment, without proper cameras, all because they were too impatient. Also to beat Edge to it, but she refuses to think about him right now. The truth is, they were prepared, they had taken all the pictures from above the ground and under it. Maybe preserving evidence hadn’t been their top priority on every step, but survival definitely had been.Jack had even sent the nanorobots to be sure of their steps.

 

The truth is, she doesn’t even need the flashlight that keeps flickering. Blue glow is so fierce it illuminates everything around her. The whole temple, what’s left of it, it’s marvelous, as if still breathing life through the walls and pillars. For a moment she’s left breathless from the beauty of it all, until the chill of losing her friends reminds her the task at hand. She just needs to find the switch to the trap, it was probably some secret door created to frighten the intruders away. Nothing too serious. They are all just fine, waiting for Lena to open the door again.

She steps towards the light, not neglecting to check every corner for further traps, heart pounding, knife finding a way between her fingers. A turn. Heart gallops as she takes it and releases her breath. Still here, still has a chance of finding the truth. Another turn. The temple can’t be this huge? Is it a maze?

And then she’s hit a wall. The path doesn’t go further, but she could swear the light comes right through the wall. After a moment of hesitation she tears off her gloves and reaches towards the stones, touching the edged with her fingertips, scratching the knife’s blade against the wall, making the temple echo from the noise. It vibrates through the floor and the ceilings, above, around, making the air whisper. Lena swallows but continues to search for something that would open the wall. And she finds it. A smaller stone that she twists to the right.

The creaking sounds old and rusty, the wall moving just a little, turning away from Lena. Slowly, slowly it disappears from the path. She leans onto it and presses through the opening. The light would be blinding if it weren’t so cold and if the air didn’t smell so moldy.

It comes from the back corner, she takes a few steps towards it.

She drops the flashlight, but grips the knife until her knuckles are white and hurting.

No one would believe the sight that she’s uncovered. She probably forgets to breathe, forgets to blink, she even forgets her friends disappearing.

 

The blue light is cocooned around an unmoving body floating in midair.

It’s a woman, blonde hair loose, dressed in red and blue, though her clothes are half burnt and torn. Her eyes are closed.

 

The goddess of Zor-El. It has to be the goddess. The real, real goddess. She looks like an angel with the blue light creating a halo to surround her.

 

It’s all real. Every last thing she’s been searching her whole life.

After a moment she steps closer. “Is this,” her voice is barely a whisper, trying to talk to herself, “some unknown way to preserve a body?” she finds comfort in her own voice, but it’s still so cold. She reaches out, touching the light. A spark burns her finger and she withdraws the hand, trying desperately to breathe.

She rises her head towards the woman again and… the goddess opens her eyes.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm alive!!!  
> sry it took so long, i was working on wayward sisters minibang and also sorting my original works and it kind of fell into the background  
> but here's the new chapter, hope you'll like it! :)


	5. Kara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i made myself hurt with this chapter

 

Kitty eyes. Green eyes. Flecks of light, sparks of sun. Light warm green, geen.

 _Morgana? You came back?_ She wants to yell and run to her, but the mouth won’t move, she’s still frozen in place. The lights around are so painfully bright.

“Uh, I, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” the voice says. It sounds frightened, hesitant, weak from the sight of her like any other human.

Kara closes her eyes to escape the light. The image of Morgana dying appears instead and pain shoots through her entire body, leaving toes and fingers trembling.

A hand comes to her arm, barely gliding over it, but she can’t help the scream that loosens her mouth as she shoves back, her body shaking and she forces her eyes open again.

“Aaah!” someone shouts, there’s a bang like stones grumbling. Is it the same voice as before? She squints and tries to move deliberately, muscles still full of tiny needles pricking at her skin, the light still too bright, the green, the green still making her ache. She turns her head towards the noise, there’s a woman rubbing her head, collapsed to a stone wall. Again, she sees Morgana in front of her eyes, overlapping her vision, crashing her mind and spinning around. Smiling, holding her, looking at her as if she was good, but not all powerful.

The woman moves and sits up against the wall. Her eyes are closed, shaking her head, mumbling words Kara can’t hear. The thrumming sound of blood and the light is vibrating around her too loudly.

Her body starts to loosen from the ache and invisible bounds and she can finally feel ground under her feet. Her knees give up and she lands on one of them, hands rubbing at the stones, trying to find balance. Everything aches. _Her fists demolishing walls around her, stones turning to dust, the cracks in the temple running and running, seemingly never stopping. Morgana’s body in front of her feet. The sound of thunder, the sound of screams, the sound of memories screeching at her…_ A sound comes out of her mouth. It’s not a scream, feels more like a sob. She just wants to go back to sleep. Everything hurts.

She registers a shuffle near her. Someone crawling closer.

There’s a hitch in silence. Breathing. No words. “I… are, are you alright?” the whisper makes her flinch away. She lifts her head and looks around. Not at the person beside her, anything but her. It’s the temple. She’s still stuck in here. Inside. Never leave. Trapped in a world not her own without anyone else.

The person moves and she glances at her. She’s rubbing the back of her head.

“You’re hurt.” She wants to say, but the words don’t sound right. Nothing seems right any more.

“You pushed me into a stone wall, it can hurt a normal person you know!” the angry answer comes before the woman clasps her mouth shut, fear in her eyes. Green eyes. Warm green.

“It’s not your fault, I mean,” she says carefully, as if she could spook Kara away. As if she’s a dangerous animal ready to attack her. “Could you help me, please?” it sounds small.

“Help you destroy everything like all humans do?” she spits out, feeling the strength coming back to her body. The woman might remind her of Morgana, but she is not her.

“I’m sorry,” she flinches and bows her head. Like so many humans before her. “My friends, they disappeared,” she talks to the floor, “I’m scared for them.”

“There are no such things as friends. There are allies and partners and lovers and enemies that can be disguised as all of them. There are humans not worth a glance. There are...” she stops, Morgana flashing in front of her eyes again. There are humans taking your breath away. But then, Morgana was a witch, not a human.

“I’m sorry,” she keeps saying that. As if it meant a difference, as if it changed anything.

“They disappeared right in front my eyes.” Is this woman relentless?

“Yes. Humans do that. They disappear, they leave, they turn on you,” she rises slowly. There’s still dizziness, the light is still too bright, but she is not weak. Has never been weak.

“No, they, they literally vanished into thin air,” the woman raises her eyes, looking up at her. Begging. Why do they always beg, is that what they think she wants?

“This temple is not built for everyone. It never was. Least of all now that they’ve set traps on every step. I was not around anymore, I am not to blame for their demise.” She search the room for a door.

The woman jumps up and grabs her arm. Again. Kara glances at her with a pointed look. She’s lucky to remain alive.

“They are not dead! They’re not! This isn’t,” she shakes her head, pain clouding her eyes. Probably forgot she’d hit her head. “No matter what’s happened, it always ends well. This is how it goes with us. I refuse to believe anything else. They are not dead, just trapped somewhere and you know where, you have to know, this is your temple! You are the goddess of Zor-El!” she almost shouts at her. “You’re the goddess,” her words repeat in a whisper.

“It always ends well? It ends well when a person you love is killed in front of you? It ends well when they set your home on fire so many times you need to build from stones and hide it? It ends well when all you do is help them and they fault you for every thing that goes wrong in their lives? It ends well when your whole world dies and you’re the one they curse with an escape? It ends well when they bind you with spells and drive you off a cliff? It ends well when they lock the door and forget you exist? It ends well when all they do is hurt and hurt and hurt? It always ends well!??”

She didn’t mean to shout it all out. There’s silence ticking around them, her breaths still rapid and angry. She’s about to turn and leave, knowing she has every right to that, almost expecting the woman to apologize yet again.

“That. Was. Not. My. Doing.” A response she doesn’t expect comes instead. It feels like a slap in the face and the woman takes a step closer, her eyes lit with fire. “My friends are not responsible for that. And I am not about to turn my back on them. I am not about to disappear on them. I am not about to vanish on them. So you help me or you get out of my way!”

She rushes past Kara to the doorway, head held high, holding back any trace of feelings.

“Wait!” The woman stops, but doesn’t turn around. “There’s a trap on the way out. You need to press against the left wall to pass safely,” Kara says with a sigh.

“Thank you,” tension leaves her body as she holds to the left.

“I deserve to know your name,” she tells to her back.

No response. She gives up on finding it out, when the answer fills the air

“Lena. You can call me Lena.”

Lena steps ahead quickly, as if afraid to look back. Kara follows, not even properly knowing why.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't really give you a timeline of when i'll be able to update. we're a man down at work so i can't really plan my time to sit and write without being disturbed. but i will update and thank you for staying and reading and giving some lovely comments, you're the best! <3


	6. Another Step

 

_**Perilous Lands, 902 A D** _

 

“ _You should not have done that,” Morgana keeps saying, keeps pacing back and forth, shuddering as if what she’d done was the most vile thing she could think._

“ _And what? I should have let you die? Why didn’t you tell me,” Kara’s struggling to keep her emotions reeled in, to not cause any accidents in her fury. They were going to kill her! Not seeing any reason, not seeing Kara could never do what they wanted no matter what was at stake. “Damn it!” she crushes a rock with her fist and Morgana flinches. “Sorry, I, I’m not angry at you,” she whispers. But maybe she is. They could’ve done something before, they could’ve left together, anything! And now there’s so much rage she still wants to burn the whole village. It would be easy. A lot easier than trying to control herself. She should just let it die, like she lets everything die, it all always dies in the end anyway._

“ _Kara,” there are careful fingers traveling on her arm,_ _bringing her back from the thoughts, “Kara, you need to breathe,_ _right now,” comes Morgana’s voice._

“ _I AM breathing,” she clenches through teeth, suddenly realizing that maybe she isn’t. Air comes rushing in, making her dizzy as she searches Morgana’s eyes._

“ _Don’t scare me like that, Kara, okay?” the soft voice calms her a bit and she lets Morgana hug her. What if she’d lost her as well? The panic starts to build again._

“ _Shhh, you’re burning too hot, my girl, don’t want you to burn me,” Morgana sounds terrified, but she’s trying to joke. It’s not really a joke, Kara could do that,_ _she can feel her skin burning._ _A choking sound escapes her lips._

“ _I hurt them,” she tries to mumble, maybe she succeeds, but all she hears is the ragged breathing coming from her lungs and_ _the tingle in her ears and Morgana’s hands holding her even closer._ _And why won’t any of it just stop._

“ _I’m here, you hear me? I’m right here, Kara. Not leaving you, not going anywhere without you. Kara, Kara, Kara,” Morgana keeps chanting her name as if it was a prayer and it is. “It’s not your fault, you hear me, Kara Zor-El? You’re the kindest soul I know.”_

 

**Present day**

 

Lena steps ahead without looking back, hoping to everything that her shivers are not visible. She could feel herself tremble in front of the goddess, fear settling in without a warning. It’s a normal reaction, she supposes, as is the curiosity peeking beneath it. The glimmer of something amazing and beautiful But how is all of this real?

A hand lands on her shoulder and she flinches.

“Stop, right now,” the voice commands right into her ear.

She glances at the goddess from the corner of her eyes. Her eyes are fixated on something on the opposite wall and Lena turns to look more carefully at it.

There are two black holes in it. She doesn’t remember those from before, but she was upset. She would still be if she didn’t have something else to be upset about. Mainly a power behind her back contained in a woman’s body.

“What?” she whispers back, “it’s just some holes in..,” she stops her sentence and takes a step back. The holes are moving, sliding downwards slowly.

“He won’t hurt you. Unless you’re here to demolish the place of course,” the woman steps in front of her, her voice turning softer, “how are you still alive?” she reaches her hand towards the… creature?

There’s a gurgling noise and the holes, the eyes, blink as something inside the stone wall moves.

“Don’t go near it!” she tries to tug the burnt fabric from her companion’s clothes, but she jerks back violently and shoots her a look that makes her still. Fear settles in again as she lets go.

“Kurat, hey, it’s me, Kara, you remember me?” the eyes that had just shot daggers at her were suddenly warm and loving.

Dark grey stone moves again and paws reach out of it. Claws and fangs and wings, the creature has wings and the blackest eyes! The wall trembles for a moment and then it’s right in front of Kara. The creature is not too big, about the size of a large dog, but it, he, hisses at Lena, eyes turning red for a moment.

“I know, it’s not her. But I don’t think she came to destroy things on purpose.” Kara seems to somehow understand the hissing noises and flattening of ears.

“What, what is he?” Lena can’t help asking.

“Who, not what. He was, is, the temple guardian,” she answers in a cold tone.

“Ssshhh, Kurat, it’s, I know, you and me both.”

Lena takes another step back feeling as if she’s intruding on something.

“You’ve been waiting so long,” Kara’s voice turns to a whisper, “I’m sorry you had to wait for me,” she strokes the head and the wings wrap around her, her body relaxes into the embrace. Black eyes blink again and look directly at Lena. As if trying to tell her something, but she doesn’t understand. It feels like a dream.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Yes, me too,” Kara sounds like she’s on the verge of tears and Kurat gives her face a lick with his split tongue.

Then he turns into stone crust and dust.

“Is this real?” Lena whispers without thinking.

Kara, the goddess, is still couching next to the pile of crust, her shoulders shaking from grief and Lena wants to hold her, but more than that, she wants to understand.

A long sigh. Then Kara rises from the ground, all evidence of tears swiped away.

“I’ve never known what’s real. We should move on.”

“Okay. What about?” she gestures at dust.

“He’s gone. There’s nothing left, only stones she made him from. You want to find your friends or talk pointlessly the rest of your life?” she snaps at Lena and hurries out of the room.

 

They walk in silence. Kara telling her instructions from time to time, but not looking at her. Lena avoids doing that as well, a restless feeling of grief and fear surrounding them. Then they seem to be out of the temple. Kara leans on a pillar and breathes a lungful of air.

“This the way you came from?” she points at the tunnels.

“Yes, but that’s not where my friends are. They disappeared right here.”

“Well, that’s where I’m going. You’re welcome to search for them.”

“What? You said you’d help me?” she doesn’t have a chance without her. She doesn’t even have a clue what happened.

“I really didn’t. And even if I did, I have a right to change my mind. I don’t need you and I don’t want you around me.”

“Fine! Then go and be slayed out there. Not like you have anywhere to go. You are out of time and you’re out of place, you might as well die right here.”

“I cannot be killed!” Kara shouts, her eyes flashing with light, ground shaking beneath their feet. Okay, maybe she really can’t be killed.

“You used to be angel for some, you know,” Lena tries a different tactic, remembering the picture that had ultimately led them here.

“You do not get to say that to me,” the danger in Kara’s voice is real and Lena has the urge to kneel in front of her. “No one gets to say that to me.”

She turns on her heels and steps away.

“Wait!”

Angry eyes snap back at her, but Lena only points at the floor right in front of Kara. “That’s the spot they disappeared.”

“There’s nothing here,” Kara tilts her head, burning eyes and looking through the stone. “Oh. Did someone perhaps touch something they shouldn’t have?” she asks Lena, a resigned sigh hiding in her voice.

“Maybe? There was a figure drawn,” she remembers Sam touching it with her fingers. “But she wasn’t the one that disappeared first?”

“Doesn’t matter. The damage is done. Humans. Come,” she grabs Lena’s hand and steps into the vanishing ring.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, i'm still alive!   
> hope it's not a too tired chapter for such a long wait!


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